Selection strategy key as Lions and Bulls stake claim as Currie Cup favourites
The Lions and Bulls have both staked their claim to be considered favourites for the Currie Cup title, after two big wins on the opening two weekends of the competition.
Of the country's 'big four', the two Highveld teams have gone with a different selection strategy to their coastal rivals and it looks to be paying off with both picking up bonus point wins to take an early lead on the Currie Cup log.
The Lions started with two home games, and comfortably swatted aside the Sharks 46-5 and Western Province 40-19, while the Bulls opened their campaign in Cape Town with a 48-23 win over Western Province, before thrashing the Sharks 64-0 back at home over the past weekend.
Both the Lions and the Bulls have loaded their Currie Cup squad with players who are largely considered backup to their United Rugby Championship (URC) team, while the Sharks and Western Province have mostly backed inexperienced youngsters for the competition.
And that has made a notable difference in their fortunes based on the results over the first two weekends of action.
In the past weekend's match the Lions' entire starting 15 were players who had featured regularly over the previous URC campaign, although none are considered regulr starters, while Western Province only had a handful of players with decent URC experience.
International experience
The Bulls also went with a strong lineup, boasting players with international experience such as Marvin Orie (Springboks) and Jaco van der Walt (Scotland), and a host of URC regulars, while the Sharks featured a few players with URC experience, and a large number without.
It will be interesting to see which player strategy pays off when it comes to the start of the coming URC season, when a number of backup players will need to be utilised due to the unavailability of Springbok players, who will still be in international action.
But in the Currie Cup, the Bulls, who sit top on 10 points, only ahead of the Lions on points difference, are currently the two teams to beat and with them now coming up against the other teams in the competition, we will gain a better understanding of where they truly stand.
Of the other four teams it is hard to gauge if they will be able to challenge the top two, as they have all picked up one win, with the Kavaliers beating the Cheetahs, Pumas beating the Griquas, Cheetahs beating the Pumas and Griquas beating the Kavaliers over the first two weekends.
The Bulls will now host the Pumas at Loftus on Saturday afternoon, while the Lions travel to Wellington to take on the entertaining Kavaliers in what should be another Sunday afternoon classic.
The other two games see the Griquas up against Western Province in Kimberley on Friday, and the Sharks host the Cheetahs in Durban on Saturday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Citizen
27 minutes ago
- The Citizen
Currie Cup result: Boland shock Lions in Wellington
Both teams looked to play attacking rugby but were guilty of making numerous errors. The Boland Cavaliers shocked the Lions 29-10 in an entertaining, yet error-ridden round three Currie Cup match played in Wellington on Sunday afternoon to announce themselves as title contenders in 2025. Hawies Fourie's team scored four tries to the two by the Lions, who had comfortably won their two previous matches, at home against Western Province and the Sharks. And after the Bulls' loss on Saturday (to the Pumas), who were also unbeaten going into round three, there are no longer any unbeaten teams in this year's competition and the top six of the eight-team log is as tight as it can get. The Pumas, Cheetahs and Boland are on 11 points each, while the Lions, Griquas and Bulls are on 10 points each. The Cavaliers secured their bonus point late on thanks to a try by replacement Juan Mostert, who made a big impact. Earlier Donavan Don, who got two, and Xavier Mitchell scored tries for the team, while fullback James Tedder kicked well and also played a big role in his team's attacking game. The Lions' tries came from Kade Wolhuter and Gianni Lombard. Pumas beat Bulls The other big result of the weekend was the Pumas' impressive and unexpected 41-7 thrashing of the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon. The Bulls had won their two opening games of the season and were favoured to make it three in a row against the men from Mbombela. But Jimmy Stonehouse's Pumas played some sparkling rugby in scoring six tries to the one by their hosts. The 2022 champions are now very much back in the race for the semifinals, with four regular season games to play. They're next up at home against the Lions, while the Bulls will be in Wellington to take on Boland. Also on Saturday, the Cheetahs pipped the Sharks 7-5 in Clermont in a low-scoring but fairly entertaining match, though both teams made an abundance or errors. It was the third loss in a row for the men from KwaZulu-Natal. The Sharks next go to Kimberley for a date with Griquas, who pulled off a big win at home on Friday, beating Western Province 47-17 while the Cheetahs are up against the men from Cape Town in Bloemfontein. After three straight defeats without picking up a bonus point, Western Province are bottom of the points table, with the Sharks just a head of them with one (bonus) point.
IOL News
27 minutes ago
- IOL News
JP Pietersen praises resilience of young Sharks in close call against Cheetahs
The Sharks XV suffered another loss against the Cheetahs at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Clermont on Saturday. Sharks XV coach JP Pietersen praised the resilience shown by his young Currie Cup team in fronting up to the Free State Cheetahs, despite suffering a third loss on the bounce in the competition on Saturday evening at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Clermont, west of Durban. "Obviously we didn't get the result but immensely proud of the team. It's been tow tough weeks. We stood up today against a well-coached Cheetahs team, fronting up on our home ground in showing the performance that we did today," the coach said after the match. The home team lost the closely contested match 7-5, with a missed conversion denying them at least a share of the spoils against their more experienced rivals. "The game was obviously won and lost defensively. You can see both teams defended well but the Cheetahs took the opportunity," Pietersen said. "It was just unfortunate we couldn't get our continuity on attack. We did some very good things on attack, we just couldn't get continuity. "But it takes time to build cohesion, to get a feel (for each other). Vusi Moyo was new at 10, Marnus Diego was new (at centre). It takes time, so I'm extremely proud of the group today."
IOL News
3 hours ago
- IOL News
No excuses for Bulls as they fall to experienced Pumas at Loftus Versfeld
Nippy winger Riyaad Bam scored the only try for the Bulls during their Currie Cup defeat to the Pumas in Pretoria. Image: BackpagePix The Bulls were their worst enemies in that opening 10 minutes when they had the Pumas under massive pressure during their Currie Cup defeat at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon. While the first half was a tight affair between the two sides, the visitors dominated the second half for a 41-7 victory, scoring six tries, of which five came after the halftime whistle. Despite the heavy defeat, Bulls head coach Phiwe Nomlomo remains upbeat about their campaign after they started with two strong victories. Ross Braude and Tiaan de Klerk catch the Bulls napping 😤💤 📺 Stream #CurrieCup on DStv: — SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 9, 2025 Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ 'We tripped (in this game) a bit; we didn't fall,' he said about the loss. 'It is now up to us to get together and ensure we are better by the next time we train to know what we have to fix. We were poor, and we won't make excuses about it. We were not in the races at all. Yes, we can single out people, but collectively, including the coaches, we must be better in terms of consistency and where we like to get to 'The team won't get there if we have another bleep like this, that is for sure.' Nomlomo says the difference was the physicality and speed at which things happened on the field. The Pumas, after waking up, overpowered the Bulls, despite the Springboks in the pack of the home side. They dominated the rolling mauls, scrums and played on the front foot for the entire second half to clinch the crucial clash.
